The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

Village yelling and screaming about how his friends were all ripped apart by wolves.  The Hill Dwarf thought the deaths of the first Raiders – who weren’t far over-Leveled for the dungeon – would lead many of the others who had signed up to delve through the dungeon to think twice.  However, the laughter from the throng of Raiders that greeted the grim news was surprising to most of the villagers, including Sterge.

“They were so drunk last night that I doubt they could even walk straight this morning. They got what they deserved for delving through a dungeon in that condition,” he overheard from some of the Raider crowd, who looked at the lone survivor with disdain rather than sympathy.

It was the disheveled-looking Raider’s surprise news, however, which actually garnered some attention – especially from the next group that was scheduled to delve through in a few minutes.  Apparently, the only reason the survivor made it out alive when the rest of his group had perished was because he found a secret passageway through a room full of flowers, which led directly to the surface – and safety.  Sterge recognized the description of the room as the same one that had miraculously healed them halfway through their delve, and he didn’t remember there being any secret passageways.  Then again, he didn’t even know to look for them, so it was entirely possible that they were there the entire time.

After the fifth Inn was completely done, Sterge and the others working construction – now including some bored Raiders who weren’t afraid of some manual labor and willing to do it to make the tiny bit they offered as recompense – got started on the sixth and seventh Inns.  Even that wouldn’t be enough for the amount of people currently congregating around The Village, but it was a start – until additional waves of Raiders started to arrive every other hour.  Oh, well – it looks like I’ll be busy for a while yet.

The prospect of having to wait 3 or 4 months to delve through the dungeon – which was what the waiting list was at currently – didn’t seem to deter many of those that came.  Very few left after hearing the news, instead electing to wait around and help with odd jobs, such as the aforementioned construction, until they could get their turn.  It helped that the rent that was charged at the Inns was relatively inexpensive, and the food was still plentiful and cheap because the first harvests were coming in (again, with help from some Raiders looking to make a little coin). Most of those who had already arrived didn’t appear to have very much to their names, either in coinage or equipment, so it wasn’t likely that they had many other prospects for a place in which to improve their Raider Level.  Or at least, that was the impression that he got after listening in on numerous conversations while he did his work around The Village.

It didn’t take more than a day for those visiting the dungeon to discover that there were “secret” passageways on a wall of every room except the first inside the dungeon.  They also discovered that when they ventured inside, they couldn’t get back in after the wall closed up after about half a minute – which caused there to be a few angry Raiders who investigated the passageways before they were completely done delving through.  Once they had exited, the Clan had strict rules about trying to cheat and go through again right away, so they had to leave with only half of their dungeon delve complete.

Halfway through the second day, an excited and anxious group couldn’t wait any longer and had gone up before their appointed time – which caused a bit of a stir.  It was a Raider Delving Clan rule that they had to wait a minimum of 2 hours after the last group left their delve (though Sterge overheard that some dungeons required a full day or two) so as to give the dungeon time to restock its monsters and traps – and loot, of course.  The group in question, however, was new and either didn’t know this or refused to wait anymore, because they arrived only 30 minutes after the last group left.

Reportedly, the dungeon was ready for them.

Therefore, instead of getting in severe trouble, the group of new Raiders was let off the hook without punishment, as it was discovered that they didn’t have to wait as long as they used to between delves.  Not only that, but instead of having to guess whether or not the dungeon was ready, something else happened that caused a stir in the entire Raider Clan community: One of the monsters inside of the dungeon, a brown fox from the first room if Sterge remembered correctly, was seen just inside the entrance for a moment before rushing back inside at the first glimpse of a Raider.

Jesper had taken to stationing one of the higher-Leveled Raiders inside the mountains outside of the dungeon with 4 or 5 groups that were next up on the list.  Whenever the little brown fox was seen, another group would venture inside; every single time, the dungeon was completely ready for them, despite the last group not coming out yet.  It apparently worked, though, because all of the groups were told to use the new “secret” passageways to exit rather than come back up through the entire dungeon.  It was an incredible timesaver, which helped to cut back the wait time from over 6 months at that time down to only about a month or less.

What was even more amazing was the fact that the dungeon was telling them that it was ready.  More than a few Raiders remarked on that, as it was something that hadn’t ever been seen before.  Sterge knew that the dungeon was at least semi-intelligent, however, because it